The High Calling of the Cross

Introduction

As we prepare our hearts to reflect upon and celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, we turn our attention to the preparation for the cross the immediate events surrounding the cross and our response to the suffering of our Lord on our behalf as well as the responsibility of a disciple in following our Lord in taking up our cross and following him.

The high calling of the cross was the ultimate purpose of Christ's earthly ministry and it still serves today as the only means of bringing glory to the Father in the lives of Christ's followers.

I. A Holy Plan

A. Holy emphasis on Christ’s suffering on the Cross

i) Some rabbis taught that there would be two Messiahs on who would suffer and the other who would rule.

ii) Though Isaiah emphasized that Messiah would be a man of sorrows the disciples could not fathom their Lord dying Isaiah 53:3 “He is despised and rejected of men; A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: And we hid as it were our faces from him; He was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

B. Holy example of Christ’s obedience to the will of the Father

i) Philippians 2:7–8 “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

C. Holy exaltation of Christ’s resurrection

i) Philippians 2:9 “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:”

II. A Human Problem

A. The Fallacy of human thinking

i) Peter starting telling Jesus what to do

ii) We are on dangerous ground when we begin to tell the Creator of Heaven and earth what he should do

B. The Futility of Human thinking

i) The short shortsightedness of human reasoning.

ii) The selfishness of human reasoning

iii) In the NASB Mark 8:33 “But turning around and seeing his disciples, He rebuked Peter and said “Get behind me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

C. The Fiendish nature of Human thinking

i) Peter just confessed Christ as Lord and moments later is thinking and acting like the Devil

ii) How quickly are we turned into Instruments of Satan,

iii) The Thought process is how to get the glory without the grief, how to find ultimate satisfaction without the ultimate suffering, how to win the crown without enduring the cross.

III. A Humble Process

A. Process of humble obedience

B. Process of humble observance

C. Process of humble operation

IV. Conclusion

A. Have you answered the high calling of the cross in your life? Do you have assurance that you have been to the cross with Jesus and partaken of His death burial and resurrection? Can you identify with the suffering of Jesus or are you like Peter and thinking like the devil?